Buying a house with Aunt

doorwoman

Hi guys,

Wondered if anyone out there could help....

My Aunt wants to help me buy a house. I've got £150,000 and she'll give me £100,000. The thing is can she just transfer the money to my account and then I use it to buy the house or will I get into trouble coz people will think we are money laundering?

We want to do it above board but don't want to get stung futher down the line. Is it best to take it as a gift or would it be best for my Aunt's name to be on the deeds?

Any help would be appreciated

Emmzi

can you aunt demonstarte she came by the money legally?

eg a set of statements trabnsferring £1000 a month from wages or similar... or evidence it is the proceeds fo something she sold?

if so I am sure your solictor will be able to show it is a gift and she can just give you the cash

I assume there are no issues re: your aunt being of sound mind and able to make her own judgement; and that the gift is freely given with no strings attached i.e. she does not WANT to own part of your new home, or care who lives in it with you.

doorwoman

Thank you for the reply Emmzi.

Yes she can prove where she got the income from (part of her own inheritance in January)

She is fully sound of mind & is giving the money without any strings. I just didn't want to take the money into my account & open up a can of worms later. If it was easier, I'd happily have her name on the deeds.

Thanks again for your advice

kinglewis

Make sure there are no issues around inheritance tax as this may be an issue if your Aunt is worth more than £325,000 (£650,000 if married)

The gift will be treated as a potentially exempt transfer.. so if she survives 7 years the gift won't be an issue.. otherwise there might be a tax bill.

Wouldn't worry too much about the money laundering side as the money is already in a bank (they will have already checked when it was banked) Might be different if it was a suitcase full of cash!

G_M

The issues of money transfer/laundering and whether to put her on the deeds are two quite unrelated questions.

As long as your aunt did not come by the money from dealing in drugs and can show this if asked, then there is no problem.

What arrangement you come to with her about the money is another matter. Is it a gift? A loan? If a loan, what agreement if any do you have about future repayment?
There are pros and cons for each of you in having her on the deeds. You need to think carefully about this.